Haunted by Data - <AUTHOR> http://idlewords.com/talks/haunted_by_data.htm <comment><USER2> Good post, but I think the "don't collect it", "don't store it", "don't keep it" warnings may fall on deaf ears.

The reality is that businesses:

(1) aren't sure of the value of their data. Perhaps there is a company willing to buy their data and they might need that money someday. Maybe if they had more historic data, reporting would show a clearer trend in some way that would help drive them in the right direction- if they had the resources to analyze all of it.

(2) may not fully understand the laws and regulations they may be bound to that relate to how long they need to keep data.

I think it's not a bad thing to spend the time to understand your legal obligations, clean up your data, and remove what you'd never need or never realistically be able to sell. But many companies don't have that time.

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm sorry to do this but :

The Nazis

The used census data from the 1930's innocently collected by govts and collated by IBM subsidiaries. The subsidiaries then passed this on to the Nazis a few years later when the govts were conquered.

Then the Hollerith machines did a query : "select person if parent=Jew or grandparent=Jew"

you didn't thinnk they did it with pencil and paper now did you ?

Thomas J. Watson, chairman of IBM, didn't get his 1937 Order of the German Eagle for nothing

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_German_Eagle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_German_Eagle)

<comment><USER4> Part of the brilliance of idleword's approach in this talk is in his avoidance of Godwin-level rhetoric. You don't need to posit an authoritarian dictatorship to see big data as hazardous. "Nixon in your datacenter" is the perfect image for this purpose, because it's funny in a way that "Hitler in your datacenter" never could be, and also easier to imagine.

<comment><USER3> Yeh, I realised that, hence my apology. But IBM's involvement with the Third Reich is an example where the nightmare of data retention leading to mass murder _has already happened_.

Every time you tick the boxes on in the equal opportunities compliance area you could be setting yourself up for disaster.

If you were a Ugandan student in Britain in 2000 you might have ticked the "[ ] Homosexual" box and had the nightmare of The Uganda Anti-Homosexuality Act, passed by the Parliament of Uganda on 20 December 2013 with the death penalty proposal dropped in favour of life in prison. [1]

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Anti- Homosexuality_Act,...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda_Anti- Homosexuality_Act,_2014)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> idlewords: This talk is fantastic. Thank you.

I'd love to hear about reactions you got from other attendees at the conference. Was there interest, serious thought, skepticism?

<comment><USER5> Thank you very much!

It was a really huge conference, so I unfortunately didn't have a chance to interact with people after the talk. I'm also very curious about whether anyone found the argument persuasive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I will bite. The issue with this presentation is that it create a worst of all worlds narrative, without any space for nuance. Where everything that can go wrong goes wrong.

For every russian LGBT person worried due to acquisition of LiveJournal, there are countless in other countries who have benefitted from Social Networks, who have organized & furthered their cause. Also the state apparatus is so powerful that any additional knowledge gained from LiveJournal data is likely meagre.

These slides espouse the same kind of luddite thinking that brought us Drug Wars, where rather than sane policy making we ended up with war on drugs fueled by morality and lack of introspection. One can easily construct similar set of slides showing why "Free Speech" is evil and ought to be regulated like "Radioactivity".

Also the writer has zero training in Pharmacy or BioMedicine and is talking complete non-sense when it comes to Pharma industry. Over last three decades medicine has had significant improvement thanks to innovation in devices, surgeries and adoption of "Evidence based medicine" and no the evidence comes from "Data" collected on large scale and not randomly injecting patient with chemicals. We have made huge progress in curing some types of cancers, converted HIV-AIDS into a manageable chronic condition from a death sentence. For all the visions of doom, and cherry picked examples of poor leaders, World has been a much better place.

 _The growing fear is that the data-driven approach is inherently a poor fit for life science. In the world of computers, we learn to avoid certain kinds of complexity, because they make our systems impossible to reason about._

 _But Nature is full of self-modifying, interlocking systems, with interdependent variables you can 't isolate. In these vast data spaces, directed iterative search performs better than any amount of data mining._

All these statements are complete bullshit and presented with zero evidence. This article is so spectacularly bad that I am amazed. The author majored in Russian and Studio Art, and other than some programming (seemingly very proficient) has no knowledge or background in Medicine, Healthcare or Bio- Medical Sciences.

<comment><USER7> I am not zero-trained in BioMedicine. The writer is actually not too wrong about it. That field has been always evidence based, for example, you can always enjoy the evidence in Morgan or Mendel's 100 years ago paper. And the data collected in that field is usually much bigger scale than so called big- data, do you know how much DNA needed to be purified, crystallized, imaged and be discovered as double helix? And don't forget to check how drug candidates are "screened by library" \-- that's one fancy name of "randomly try with chemicals".

BTW I don't think it's correct to say "curing some type of cancers", it's actually some treatments that extending the dying path.

<comment><USER6> What?

Glivec, Chemo, Marrow Transplants are extremely effective against several types of cancers. Sure we are powerless against a significant proportion, yet we do "Cure" few types of cancers. and in spite of what Pop-Sci article you might have read, all treatments don't "just extend the dying path".</comment></comment></comment>


Rubular: a sweet web-based Ruby regular expression editor - <AUTHOR> http://www.rubular.com/

<comment><USER2> I like my 'Regex Powertoy' better:

<http://regex.powertoy.org>

Requires Java applet support, for step-control over matching and better-than- Javascript regex syntax/funtionality.</comment>


Wikimedia based C++ reference - <AUTHOR> http://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp

<comment><AUTHOR> I submitted this because I believe it's new (some of the pages only have on the order of 15,000 page views). It's better than the other online C++ references I have found, and because it's a wiki, I think it has potential to become the best C++ reference online.</comment>


Roads to be made from recycled plastic to stop potholes forming - <AUTHOR> https://metro.co.uk/2019/01/31/roads-made-recycled-plastic-stop-potholes-forming-8418894/ <comment><USER2> Asphalt is a type of plastic, and it's already recycled many times over.</comment>


Show HN: webhog – Web scraper written in Go - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/johnernaut/webhog

<comment><AUTHOR> This is another Go OSS project of mine that I'm using to expand my knowledge of the language and its inner-workings. I'd be extremely interested in gathering advice on the best way to test an application such as this.

Most of the complexity lies within downloading and persisting files - do my test methods need to download physical files from the web as well, or is there a straight-forward way to stub that behavior out? Any feedback is appreciated.</comment>


New Uber Branding - <AUTHOR> https://www.uber.com/ <comment><USER2> Great iteration away from Black/Lux.. now feels very "mass-consumer friendly"

Further insight: [http://brand.uber.com](http://brand.uber.com)

</comment><comment><USER3> Dustin Curtis tweeted ([https://twitter.com/dcurtis/status/694607605436588032](https://twitter.com/dcurtis/status/694607605436588032)) that it is "meant to look like a plug, connecting the digital and physical worlds."

It is kind of missing the transport aspect imho.

<comment><USER2> The shape of a cars side-profile or wheel might've nailed it better, but then again, driving passengers in a car from A-B seems far from their entire scope; logistics, food, etc.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Is anyone else catching some old school Nokia vibe from this branding?

</comment><comment><USER5> You know what, as a developer and designer, I like it, I like it a lot.

As an engineer I still can't really see why. Better than Airbnb logo though.</comment>


Launch HN: Global Belly (YC W20) – Helping influencers launch their own products - <AUTHOR> Ankita and Madhuri here from Global Belly (https://globalbelly.com/). We built a platform that helps influencers launch their own custom line of products. By 'influencers' we mean creators who have loyal and engaged audiences on social media that they have grown through their own content. They are usually experts in a particular skill, like cookie decorating, vegan baking, or fitness and nutrition. Right now the primary way they make money is through promoting third party brands in their content. While they have all the necessary creative skills to connect with a large audience they do not have expertise in product design, tech, and operations to launch and sell their own products. We help these talented individuals launch their own e-commerce brand and start turning their fans into customers. We take care of everything for them -- from product design and tech to operations and delivery -- so influencers can create and start selling their physical and virtual products in a matter of days.
Ankita and I met in 2014, while she was completing her MBA at NYU Stern and I was working at The Food Network. Ankita came from an engineering background and had previously worked at Apple, while my experience was in media production, but we connected immediately and started working on a few projects together at the intersection of food and tech and launched our own DTC food brand that would feature products to help people cook more global cuisines at home, hence the name Global Belly.
We developed our own e-commerce platform with all the bells and whistles, set up operations with co-packers and food distributors, and even started working with a fulfillment partner to manage delivery logistics. When we began exploring influencer partnerships, we started hearing the same thing from all of them: "I've always wanted to launch my own line of products like these but I just don't have the time and resources". This really resonated with us, we knew first-hand the challenges of launching your own brand, and we knew this would be nearly impossible for them while maintaining aggressive content calendars. After speaking with 100 different food influencers we learnt not only how well-positioned they were to launch their own products but how eager they were to do it. The solution became obvious to us, we had the tech, analytics and operational expertise to help them launch both physical and virtual product lines quickly. Influencers could continue to do what they do best, create amazing content and connect with their audience and we would take care of the rest for them.
So this is how it works: Once influencers are onboarded we look at their audience data and help them create a product portfolio that is best suited for their fans. We design all of these products, set up their custom store on Global Belly and manage the production and fulfillment logistics of the whole store as well. Influencers share their custom products to their fans and followers via their store on Global Belly and they start earning revenue for each product sold from day 1.
We have currently launched 17 influencers in the food vertical and shipped thousands of products so far. One of our largest influencers is SweetAmbs, who is a pastry chef specializing in cookie decorating. Through her beautifully crafted videos she has built an audience of 3M across her social media platforms. We helped her launch her own line of DIY cookie kits, signature cookie mixes, books, and e-tutorials via her Global Belly store (https://globalbelly.com/collections/sweetambs) She is just one of the millions of content creators we believe will be the future of commerce as they begin to capitalize on their own brand instead of pushing others.
Though the majority of our launches have been in the last 3 months, we have already started learning some interesting things. The size of the influencers' audience is only one parameter to watch, as smaller influencers have proven that they can be just as successful as larger ones. An influencer with only 100K in followers can generate the same product revenue in the first week of launch than one with over 500K. We are starting to collect data on how much an influencer can actually sell to predict revenue they can generate based on audience parameters like age, gender, income and education.
While we are the only company doing this in the food space at the moment, this model has seen success in the fashion and beauty industry. Would love to connect with anyone at Revolve and Huda Beauty and anyone with extensive knowledge or a unique perspective in the social commerce space. We are looking forward to hearing ideas and feedback from the HN community and any experiences you have in this space! <comment><USER3> Really interesting concept! One of those "how has this not been done before?!" idea!

Seems hard to scale, which isn't necessarily a problem, but I'm wondering:

1) How are you accessing audience data? Is this by scraping their insta or youtube or something or are you directly accessing accounts? Given an account is literally an influencer's livelihood, I can imagine that would be especially risky for them?

2) How do you relate audience products to data? Are you saying, for example, that if an audience is 50% metropolitan females aged 18-24 then it is likely they would purchase beauty products? Or do you go more in depth?

3) And then as a result...how do you intend to scale that? Machine learning?

Anyway...love it!

<comment><USER4> Hi Nilef - thanks and great questions!

1) Influencers give us access to thei accounts directly so we can look at their audience data and create a product portfolio that works best for them! So far they have not had any concerns in giving us permissions to access that data.

2) We use both audience data (income level, age, etc) + market research (for pricing as an eg.) + previous product launches (that we did for other influencers in the cake category as an eg.) in a category to create an ideal product portfolio for a given influencer.

3) Yes, we are doing a lot of this manually at the moment - trying to understand the winning sauce. But AI/Machine Learning to scale this in the future!

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I have helped Thrive Market, Shopbop and Skillshare with managing outreach with influencers and programs, would love to chat. firstname.lastname@example.com

Few suggestions, yes there will be strong initial push from influencer. Then need help in continuing to drive traffic after the initial boost.

I think most of the media narrative is too negative on influencers with few bad apples. 90% + of them have dedicated audience, close relationships, honest and overall pretty smart.

One example publisher is Kelly in the City. I know she drives sales from past projects I've done with her. [https://www.instagram.com/kellyinthecity/](https://www.instagram.com/kellyinthecity/)

Plus shes using her platform to share the importance of staying at home right now with stories of nurses/DRs in the hospitals right now.

<comment><USER4> Completely agree with you! With their own brand of products,the content can be more organic rather than "salesy" which makes it easier for them to showcase these products on a much more frequent basis as compared to #ads. So they can continue to drive traffic to their store on an ongoing basis more easily. Also, every new product offering they add to their stores gives them a new reason to share content and send traffic.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Congrats on the launch. Are you shipping through a third party, does that add cost? And how long does that take? I see later in the flow it says 2-5 day free shipping, but might be good to reassure people on the landing page.

Small thing but with white text on light background sometimes it's a bit washed out, there's a couple spots on the site.

Little thing, continue to shipping is shown when entering shipping address, kind of confusing. Maybe just "Next"?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback on the website - we are working on it right now! Yes - we ship through a 3PL (3rd party logistics company) and we build that cost into our pricing. This actually helps us save money since we don't have to invest into our our facilities. The 3PL ships every order that comes in within 12 hours. Right now shipping is 2-5 business days as we only use 1 warehouse. As we leverage multiple warehouses from the the 3PL across the country, our shipping time will come down to 2 days.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> > We developed our own e-commerce platform with all the bells and whistles, > set up operations with co-packers and food distributors, and even started > working with a fulfillment partner to manage delivery logistics.

Are you using Shopify for the ecommerce sales? The URL patterns are similar if not the same so just wondering!

At this point not sure why you'd need to develop your own ecommerce platform. Most of the value seems to be in the relationship and partnerships, not the tech.

Congrats on the launch!

<comment><AUTHOR> Exactly, we leverage Shopify which helps us spin up new stores very quickly. As we further build out the platform and learn more we can always look into a custom build but as you said, our priority is launching many successful stores in a short amount of time.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> >By 'influencers' we mean creators who have loyal and engaged audiences on social media that they have grown through their own content. They are usually experts in a particular skill, like cookie decorating, vegan baking, or fitness and nutrition

I feel like "influencer" is too broad of a term for this. From what I know about influencers, a lot of them are just a pretty face that brands can slap their name onto.

<comment><USER9> _From what I know about influencers, a lot of them are just a pretty face that brands can slap their name onto._

I think this is the most common understanding of the term, as well.

To me "influencer" is no different than the "brand representatives" that used to be known as "booth babes" that are bussed in to conventions and trade shows to draw eyes while they stand next to products.

<comment><USER10> > I think this is the most common understanding of the term, as well.

I'd be careful assuming that. My understanding is much closer to what the main post describes, as is most of the college students I know. It's definitely just a broad term for people with an online presence, typically through Instagram, who use their online popularity for advertising on behalf of companies.

Influencers often have a bit more depth than just "booth babes", like you described. Their popularity comes from a high level of expertise in something or a great online persona.

Consider your mum having a baking Instagram. She blows up in popularity, and _then_ starts advertising, and potentially taking more care to cultivate her audience. She is definitely an influencer, but far from what you've described.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Some constructive criticism:

On the homepage, the white text over the large images is very difficult to read. Might want to change the text color, outline, or grab different images?

What I'm seeing: [https://imgur.com/apb1lVS](https://imgur.com/apb1lVS) [https://imgur.com/8CpJnCo](https://imgur.com/8CpJnCo)

<comment><USER12> This, a slight shadow on the text can help a lot!

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> hi, this sounds quite interesting. My sister is in tech and is very creative when it comes to cooking at home. She sends food photos to a close group of friends on watsapp as she's not really on social media (not even fb). She has a lot of food ideas. What would you suggest to someone like her if she wanted to launch her own food product but doesn't have a ready-made audience?

<comment><AUTHOR> While we are already seeing a lot of mixed carts indicating that a two-sided effect is achievable, our current model assumes that creators will funnel in the majority of traffic to their own stores. The creators we work with have already build a direct channel with a fairly large and unique set of people (anywhere from 50K-millions). Size and other parameters of their audience is what determines whether this is a suitable fit for them. Since we rely on data to make that decision, a strong social media presence is necessary at the moment.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Great concept. how many products do you guys ship every month?

What's the hardest thing to scale in this?

</comment><comment><USER15> What a fantastic idea! Much needed. Tired of vanilla products from big brands. Looking forward to more custom products from influencers I follow. Wonder how big the opportunity is and role of technology in scaling. Food must be a massive category in of itself

<comment><USER16> Why? To buy an off-the-shelf personality?

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> So you're Shopify with more handholding? What's to stop them from moving to Shopify directly and remove you as the middleman after they've proven traction?

<comment><USER18> Reminds me of [https://www.stackcommerce.com/](https://www.stackcommerce.com/) which seems to do something similar for publishers.

<comment><USER15> That's a great parallel. The one key difference though is that influencers products are their "own" products vs. promoting a variation of an existing product

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> How is this different than Etsy? Influencers already sell their goods on it and the marketplace helps with discovery.

<comment><AUTHOR> Etsy and Shopify are great e-commerce platforms, but creators still would have to do all the work of understanding what products will work with their audience and that is data that we will be able to provide based on our current and future portfolios on our marketplace. We also solve the rest of the equation for them, translating their culinary content into commercial products through in-house R&D, packaging design and we physically manufacture all products and manage delivery and customer service as well. So for them it is as simple as signing a contract with us and then earning revenue within a few weeks.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Why are you using the `belly` suffix? Goldbelly has existed for > 10 years.

<comment><USER7> Most of what they ship is food... guessing belly is just a stomach/food reference. I don't see any confusion between the two companies. There are plenty of other companies that use belly. Potbelly and Jelly Belly come to mind

<comment><USER20> Jelly Belly has been around for YEARS and was named after Lead Belly (a musician). I've never heard of Potbelly, but that's a pre-existing noun (potbelly pig). If anything, they should have chosen something more unique given the abundance of "-belly" names.

Plus -- it doesn't allude to anything having to do with "influencers".

<comment><USER7> Global would allude to influencers and belly to food. So food influencers.

I'm not saying there isn't a better name out there - naming things is hard - and finding a .com for whatever name you come up with makes it that much harder.

I don't think their business customers are finding them with SEO - <USER2> direct sales over Instagram and email. Their consumer customers are getting sold to directly by the Influencers so again the SEO and naming is not all that important.

<comment><USER20> I'm providing free feedback from a current non-customer. They can use what they want with it.

<comment><USER21> Are you a likely customer? That is, are you a current influencer looking for a platform to sell things?

My general experience is that feedback from people who aren't in the target market has negative value. When entrepreneur friends ask me for hot takes, I used to just tell them whatever came to mind. Now, though, I refuse to that unless a) I have a lot of experience on the topic, or b) I'm in the target market.

I think that's especially true with branding and other style-related choices. A brand needs to work well for the people it's aimed at. But it's fine if it doesn't work for other people. Indeed, that's often better. E.g., nobody should ask me my opinion on branding youth fashion. If they make their product more appealing to me, it will almost certainly be less appealing to their actual customers.

<comment><USER20> > Are you a likely customer? That is, are you a current influencer looking for > a platform to sell things?

I'm sure the majority of people on "Hacker News" wouldn't fit into the archetype of an "influencer" using this platform as a publisher. If you frame the question more fairly: Would I be on the consumption end of this platform as a customer? Perhaps, but I don't know about quality control.

With Goldbelly, I can trust that the restaurants have been vetted by public health agencies. Likes and follower counts don't entice me to ingest some muffins from some random Instagram "influencer".

Why do you think you aren't allowed to ship product from your home under the California cottage law?

<comment><USER21> No, I asked the question I asked for a reason. The people choosing this are the influencers, so it's their reaction to the brand that matters the most. For people buying influencer stuff, their reaction is at best secondary, and may be almost irrelevant if they only ever see it on a packing receipt or a credit card statement.

It's really important for startups to focus relentlessly on the people who make the early purchasing decisions. If those people don't get on board, no other potential audiences matter.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Novelist's Complicity - <AUTHOR> http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/01/05/the-novelists-complicity/ <comment><USER2> > The democratization of reading tastes has gone hand in hand with the demise > of the critic, and with that, the idea of reading a novel because certain > people with discernibly good judgment think that the book is worth reading.

This seemed wrong to me on a glance, and I wasn't sure why at first.

I think it's the phrase "discernibly good judgment." When I look to see if I should follow any recommendation, whether from someone who is formally a critic or not, one of the first things I do is try to figure out if the person is admirable, accomplished, and — yes, if they have good judgment.

To be frank, most professional critics fail that test.

The best critics are typically those who are also accomplished, interesting people with a wide variety of interests and life experiences to draw on.

Take George Orwell. Most people would agree he was an excellent writer and lived a very interesting life. He fought in the Spanish Civil War and was wounded by a fascist sniper. He turned out a number of classic works — 1984 spawned a whole set of metaphors and words that entered the English language.

He's also an excellent critic of both literature and society. "Politics and the English Language" and "What is Fascism?" are both extremely astute reads that make you smarter.

But when I look at most critics, they don't measure up at all to Orwell. They're often very privileged people, for whom political connections and politicking were of primary importance in getting their role as a professional critic — not anything like an objective standard of merit or accomplishment.

Most of them seem, frankly, unaccomplished.

So I'll listen to Orwell on literature and culture — an accomplished person with many insights — and I'll read carefully the reflections of Edward O. Thorpe when he talks about corruption in finance, or Peter Norvig when he writes on experiment design and critiques sloppy thought in the sciences.

But the average critic? The author of the piece thinks they have "discernibly good judgment"? Why would he think that? It seems to be... well, frankly, false.

<comment><USER3> Yes. In truth, I am far more likely to be swayed to read a book because some intellectual wrote a positive review, than because of crowdsourced ratings/recommendations.

But that intellectual will not be someone who is placed before me as a generic source of "discernibly good judgement". I'll do the discerning for my self. The critic I follow we usually be a blogger or columnist who I have followed for posts that they write abou their own field of expertise.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> _> Amazon and Goodreads ratings, and numerous online book-reviewing sites, have all contributed to and reflected the democratization of the arbitration of literary taste. But such democratization is not intrinsically a good thing._

It hadn't occurred to me before this article but after thinking about it I do depend upon Amazon/Goodreads ratings in large portion when choosing my next book.. Upon re-examination I think I'm going to factor in more book critics' opinions into my selection process.

<comment><USER5> A great example of the problem of even reading Amazon reviews: I was looking for a translation of the Analects by Confucius (more correctly, Lunyu by Kongzi).

A well-respected translation was criticized by at least one Amazon reviewer for its commentary, which veered off-topic, included the editor's own ideas, etc. I ruled out that translation.

Then I read a scholarly review of the translations (found via Google Scholar) and learned that such commentary is the proper way and that it's been done that way for centuries or more. The editor is meant to interact with the Kongzi's text.

If I didn't read the scholarly review, I would have believed the Amazon reviewer. It was a lesson to me - one I finally accepted: No matter how smart you think you are, unless you have expertise in a field then you lack the ability to discern the truth from ignorance. Persuasiveness is not a measure of truth. You're a sucker, a mark, if you think otherwise.

I no longer read Amazon reviews for such purposes and don't trust Wikipedia either. Also, note that reading the Amazon review actually hurt me; bad information is worse than no information.

<comment><USER6> I dunno. Sounds like the Amazon review was factually correct. The difference was whether what it identified was good or bad.

The answer to that surely depends on what you need.

My friend is a car expert. I might read a positive review of a car which said that its small engine made it easy to control. He would say that a small engine meant it had poor top speed and acceleration and therefore sucked.

Surely all I learned from this is that the car has a small engine. Someone who drives a lot of cars may want a fun one. Someone who reads a lot of translations of the analects may want a dialogue that contributes to the field. After all, if such a scholar wanted a litteral translation they would read it in the original language.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> > Amazon and Goodreads ratings, and numerous online book-reviewing sites, have > all contributed to and reflected the democratization of the arbitration of > literary taste. But such democratization is not intrinsically a good thing.

Same phenomenon, though, occurs with TV/Film. Brett Easton Ellis's podcast riffs (extensively, caustically and yet wonderfully) on this "democratization of art" as it occurs in TV & Film.

</comment><comment><USER8> A large part of this is the mass culture problem generally.

Dwight MacDonald wrote of this in the 1950s:

[https://is.muni.cz/el/1421/jaro2008/ESB032/um/5136660/MacDon...](https://is.muni.cz/el/1421/jaro2008/ESB032/um/5136660/MacDonald_- _A_Theory_of_Mass_Culture.pdf)

</comment><comment><USER9> The "literary critic" should be revived as a website, or as a feature of existing websites like GoodReads. I have no idea what recent fiction to read, and would love to just enter a list of authors ("Cormac McCarthy", "John Darnielle") into a search engine and find critics to follow...

<comment><USER5> Most leading book reviews are available online. Try:

* NY Times Book Review: [https://www.nytimes.com/section/books/review](https://www.nytimes.com/section/books/review)

* New York Review of Books

* London Review of Books

* New Yorker

Here are a couple of aggregators, but I haven't tried them very much:

* iDreamBooks: [https://idreambooks.com/](https://idreambooks.com/)

* Book Verdict: [http://www.bookverdict.com/](http://www.bookverdict.com/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> > "...modern fiction, particularly English-language fiction, has moved in the > direction of the televisual, anyway. Much so-called literary fiction is > evidently written with an eye to an option for film or TV adaptation."

These statements (and therefore the points which follow) lack evidence and do not align with my anecdotal experience, which suggests to me some selection bias (likely from both myself and the author). I would be deeply surprised if a great enough portion of books are 'written with an eye to [a TV adaptation]' to cause a significant impact on writing quality and style.

<comment><USER9> The "portion of books" doesn't matter at all, the economic incentives do. A few sentences later: "For all but a tiny few, it's nearly impossible to make anything even approaching a living from writing literary fiction."</comment></comment>


Innovating Around Your Customer Waiting Time - <AUTHOR> http://howardmann.com/blog/2010/03/innovating-around-your-customer-waiting-time <comment><USER2> I'm not sure about the "make it a goal.." conclusion of the final paragraph, but otherwise, this is smart: waiting is part of any interaction. This especially goes for the time between their initial request and your first reply to them (whether it's an actual message, service setup, etc). The more you can make them feel like they're being taken care of, the better.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yea, thanks for bringing that up. To be honest, I only submitted it to HN because of it's genius title. the whole concept is just brilliant!

I think it's a subject worth discussing about and a lot of tangible and intangible opportunities that are to be had in this 'wait time' period.

This epiphany reminds of IDEO's Tim Brown who suggested hospital ceilings are bad for patience. The patient is spending most of their time in bed, looking at the ceiling, yet there's nothing there to interact with them. He changed that.</comment></comment>


Celebrating Female Entrepreneurs - <AUTHOR> https://stripe.com/blog/international-womens-day <comment><USER2> I would take it as a slap in the face if I achieved something of great importance, and I'm celebrated on the basis of my gender or race! WOW I would be furious.</comment>


How do you transport 70,000 tons of liquid argon nearly a mile underground? - <AUTHOR> https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/researchers-face-engineering-puzzle <comment><USER2> I heard of a very Boring company which specializes in making vacuum tunnels.</comment>


Is Google Instant trying to trick people into clicking on ads? - <AUTHOR> http://customerecosystem.com/2010/09/08/is-google-instant-trying-to-trick-people-into-clicking-on-ads/

<comment><USER2> They changed the background color. Ok. It is still quite obvious to me what is an ad and what isnt. Perhaps the old yellow was too subtle.. some people might not know that is an ad even if they switched back. What if they brought back the blink tag like:

<blink>AD!!!!</blink>

</comment><comment><USER3> Google made an aesthetic change to the sponsored ads back in July to better match the new look and feel they pushed back in may. Nothing to do with Google instant at all.

What's funny is if people are only noticing this now, then the ads are obviously totally ineffective.

</comment><comment><USER4> Nice point. They really changed the background for ads.</comment>


Ask HN: As a freelancer, what turns you away? - <AUTHOR> I've been freelancing/contracting for a few years now and have never had a problem finding work that I enjoy, but the hiring process can be a nightmare.
This is the point where I usually end up walking away and making it known that the reason is due to the convoluted, time consuming process being a huge warning sign of things to come. A few other no-gos include being asked to fill out a skills matrix after phone calls and a clear visual representation of the info has already been shared, a resistance to an in-person right away to see if it's a good fit and the all too common coding assignment (this is what GitHub/portfolios are for).
Do these seem like miniscule issues to you? What are your own issues that get you to walk away as a freelancer/contractor? <comment><USER2> One my pet peeves running a small professional services agency in Shanghai editing English resumes, creating LinkedIn Profiles, interview coaching and similar academic support, is when a prospect comes in all hot and heavy. They love the description of the service, understand my lengthy business career brings something special, have seen my pricing table on our Taobao shop or I have explained to them, then ask for discounts up to 50%. What part of this is a legitimate business, with embedded costs and the need to derive a solid ROR do they not understand?

</comment><comment><USER3> Basically if the company knows that you + your skills are legit and valuable, you will have a lot of leverage over them.

In my line of work (sales), I am dime-a-dozen and I don't have many connections, so I go along with someone's crazy and stupid hiring process. Usually I am denied anyway, but after a long process, I landed my current job.</comment>


BookChain is a work-in-progress platform for storing important books - dane-pgp https://bookchain.cash/ <comment> dane-pgp There are three technical concerns that I think are significant when talking about blockchain projects (ignoring the financial and legal issues somewhat, despite those being perhaps more relevant to this service).

First, obviously, is the issue of energy consumption, although it is hoped that a system like Proof-of-Stake could solve that to some extent.

Second is the issue of unwanted immutability or traceability, in that even the creator of a transaction cannot (perhaps after the fact) demand that their transaction is hidden. Interestingly, work is being done on this too, with Zero Knowledge proofs for privacy, and using Chameleon Signatures for optional mutability:

[https://www.cio.com/article/3122846/internet/censorship- and-...](https://www.cio.com/article/3122846/internet/censorship-and- healthcares-redactable-blockchain-trapdoor.html)

Thirdly, there is the issue of how to correctly set the cost per byte of storage for a blockchain. If the cost is too high, no one will want to write to it (i.e. high transaction fees for a blockchain currency), but if the cost is too low then miners won't want to mine it (due to the amount of storage space and network capacity they need). Market pricing may in practice be sufficient for deciding this parameter, but I don't know if there are strong reasons to believe that the market will always be able to find a price that is sustainable for both users and miners.</comment>


A Solution to the Supernode Problem - <AUTHOR> http://thinkaurelius.com/2012/10/25/a-solution-to-the-supernode-problem/

<comment><USER2> The more I look at Titan, the more I think it's a great solution to my needs.

Thanks for the great post guys, it hits on some topics I've been wondering about lately.</comment>


Ask HN: How to do a Startup? - <AUTHOR> I've been interested in starting up something for a couple of years. All the ideas I get feel very small or simple. I feel it won't make it big and lose interest in the idea. I've been trying hard to find good ideas but that's proving difficult. How do I find ideas for one? Should I even look for one? My main reason to starting up is for the excitement and potential fame, popularity, riches. I know the odds are pretty low, but I'm just 23 and I feel I'm in a comfortable position to take the risk.
One other thing people adivse is to join an early startup or a mid sized company. However, I feel the upside won't be high enough unless I'm one of the cofounders. A job at a good CS firm like Google, FB might be better off in terms of learning, money. May be it's just my misconception.
Please advise. <comment><USER2> _Please advise._

I'd advice you to quit asking people to do your homework for you, spend some time using the HN search feature, Google, etc., and come back with specific questions.

See: [http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart- questions.html](http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html)

Seriously, everything you need is here in the HN archives, in the startupschool lessons, etc., but have you done any research of your own yet? If not, why not?

Take this: * I've been trying hard to find good ideas but that's proving difficult. How do I find ideas for one?*

This issue has been discussed ad nauseam here on HN. Use the search bar for crying out loud.

Or go to [https://www.startupschool.org/library](https://www.startupschool.org/library) and/or [http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html) and start reading.

<comment><USER3> While I don't love the harsh tone of the parent post, it's not wrong. One of the most important skills you would need to succeed as a startup founder is to self-teach: the ability to use the resources already available to you (ex: internet search) to seek out information and answers about how to do things you've never tried before, and to learn by doing instead of having the knowledge spoon-fed.

When you're the CEO or CTO and your startup has 6 months of runway and a half- finished product and angry investors and 2 unengaged clients and an MIA co- founder, you'll be the one responsible for figuring out solutions and making decisions. You'll be the one who knows the subtleties of the situation. You can ask people for advice, but you'll be the one who has to figure out precisely what advice to ask for and which advice is actually applicable. Most of it won't be. And the right solution might be something that nobody else suggests to you.

If you're not comfortable being thrown in the deep end and figuring out for yourself how to swim, you will not only struggle at but also loathe being a startup founder.</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Why MariaDB and not Percona - <AUTHOR>

I see on readwrite that Google is moving from mySQL to MariaDB. Now I know that Percona exists and has some good tooling.<p>why MariaDB and not Percona? <comment><AUTHOR> I actually just read a slide about why. Because Percona is still downstream of Oracle

[https://conf-slac.stanford.edu/sites/conf- slac.stanford.edu....](https://conf-slac.stanford.edu/sites/conf- slac.stanford.edu.xldb-2013/files/JCole_10.35_The%20MySQL%20Ecosystem%20at%20Scale%2016x9.pdf)

I love answering my own questions.

</comment><comment><USER2> I expect it is something to do with the fact that Percona targets small and mid-size companies who want a complete package with support but have no interest in doing their own MySQL development. But MariaDB is more open and hacker friendly. This is good for Google because they like to adapt tools to their own environment and MariaDB is more like a box of db tools in evolution.

</comment><comment><USER3> Because the people behind MariaDB are the original mysql devs.

<comment><USER4> ...and they did so spectacularly the first time around?</comment></comment>


Apple is catastrophically late to the self-driving car game - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-catastrophically-late-to-self-driving-car-game-2017-4 <comment><USER2> When was Apple ever first to the game? Didn't make the first home PC, didn't make the first MP3 player, didn't make the first smartphone. They tend to take validated markets and redefine them with design.

</comment><comment><USER3> If there is noone nearing the finish line, noone is late. It very well might be that the flagship self driving company does not even exist yet. The road to almost as good as a human is much shorter that the road to being unquestionably superior to human drivers. As a motorcycle rider, even the best systems are quite poor as of now where my safety is concerned. Apple has plenty of time, and money, to catch up if they choose a good strategy.</comment>


Show HN: Overview of issues people submit to bug bounty programs via HackerOne - <AUTHOR> http://h1.nobbd.de/

<comment><AUTHOR> I just realized the search function wasn't working when I submitted this. I fixed it a minute ago and you should be able to search through all the issues now.

If you have any recommendations concerning layout improvements or readability feel free to let me know :-)</comment>


Bay Area tech company caught paying imported workers $1.21 per hour - <AUTHOR> http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/23/efi-underpaying-workers/ <comment><USER3> > _" We unintentionally overlooked laws that require even foreign employees to > be paid based on local US standards."_

I hope that readers keep incidents like this is mind. There's a tendency to pile on in populist fashion against the "bankers", the "lobbyists" and the "politicians". In reality, the "tech" world is just as dirty. Peoples is peoples.

<comment><USER4> I wonder about the ethics of a related scenario ... get a remote person to login to machines to do installs and manage. In this case, the remote person gets paid in Rs but I guess that is okay since their cost of living is in Rs (not in the case of the story, obviously)?

IANAL

<comment><USER5> Please try not to ask such difficult questions. It takes some serious mental gymnastics to justify and endorse all the various restrictions of free contract and conduct legislated under the name of social justice - it's really not kind to point out these uncomfortable contradictions.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> They had to pay the owed pay of $40K, plus a $3500 fine. That spells out why these unethical creeps did this. The upside for them is pretty big. $40k savings at the low risk of paying a $3500 fine is huge upside. Wonder how much money they have "made" by doing this in the past when they didn't get caught?

In order to stop companies from doing things like this the penalties need to be great enough that it outweighs the benefits.

"Oh; you didn't pay those workers the $40k you owed them? Here's a $400k fine on top of it for the ten times prior where you probably got away with. Have a nice day."

<comment><USER7> This is a good idea, life sentences for smoking pot in California have drastically reduced the incidence of pot smoking.

<comment><USER8> Very different. Corporations frequently think like this under the guise of duty to shareholders. Many do the right thing, but frequently they do a cost- benefit analysis against the damage from getting caught.

Gary Becker (RIP) discusses this [0] on the 4th page of his Nobel lecture, using a simplified example of people parking illegally more often if it's cost effective to pay for the occasional ticket.

[0] [http://home.uchicago.edu/gbecker/Nobel/nobellecture.pdf](http://home.uchicago.edu/gbecker/Nobel/nobellecture.pdf)

<comment><USER9> Are you attempting to excuse the action?

<comment><USER6> I think he was just pointing out that a person choosing to do drugs is different than a business breaking the law for profit.

Some businesses will engage in ethical and lawful behaviors because they are run by people of high moral standard that will not allow themselves to be comprised.

Other businesses will model the risk/reward in terms of profits and see if acting ethically or unethically yields the most profit. They will then do whatever yields the most profit, given an acceptable level of risk, whether that involves unlawful and unethical behaviors or not.

My original post is pretty oversimplified, but it gets to the heart of the problem. If a business truly errs and breaks the law unknowingly and is acting in an ethical manner then they should correct the action and make right the situation. In this case no additional penalty, or a minimal fine would seem to be in accordance with the behavior.

If the business is on the other hand deliberately breaking the law and/or acting unethically then the penalty needs to be high enough that it offsets the potential profits/rewards so as to keep unethical businesses in check.

The problem is determining when is it an unintentional mistake, and when was it calculated?

In this case EFI is claiming it was an oversight/mistake, but that seems unlikely. Proving that it was deliberate and unethical can be more difficult.

So how do we separate the wheat from the chaff?

<comment><USER7> It's a pretty well solved problem, you look around the world find out which justice systems produce low recidivism rates and implement those policies.

You'll find that there's little correlation between recidivism rate and length of sentence / amount of fine.

Or you can do what they do in America where they have the worlds largest prison population, which is hand out excessively harsh fines and prison sentences for relatively minor issues.

Protip: If you want people to act like the law is any different than separating the wheat from the chaff it would behoove one to stop referring to people in that manner. Instead you might want to say something like "How can we persuade people to my way of thinking?"

<comment><USER6> My meaning was not, "how can we persuade people to my way of thinking", rather it was how do we identify who has made an honest mistake and who was acting in a deliberate manner so as to punish the two differing groups accordingly.

<comment><USER7> I'm well aware of that, which is why I was pointing out the pointlessness of punishing people but not reforming their behaviour.

So lets pretend you know of a fool proof way to figure out who is making honest mistakes, and who is being deliberate, now you can your retribution, but you won't change their behaviour.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Something isn't quite right with this article.

Engadget links to their "source", and their source doesn't link to anywhere they got the info from.

They say the workers were allegedly working 120 hour work weeks... if my math serves me right, that is 5 straight days and nights without sleeping. I don't think that is humanly possible in a 7 day week, even under slave-driven conditions such as described in the article.

Also, it sounds like, from the article, that the workers were hired as contract workers from India, then flown in to perform a contract. If that's the case, their pre-agreed wage in India would be fine imho, and easily confused with local laws (no intentional malicious intent), and perhaps why they weren't fined more heavily here in the US.

<comment><USER11> Best I can tell, they have a presence in India:

[http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-EFI- RVW5844...](http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Employee-Review-EFI- RVW584414.htm) [http://www.justdial.com/Bangalore/efi-india-pvt- ltd-%3Cnear%...](http://www.justdial.com/Bangalore/efi-india-pvt- ltd-%3Cnear%3E-Whitefield/080P5929934)

So my guess is that they are actual EFL, India, employees who are flown in for some time, probably on a tourist visa (I've seen that elsewhere), but still paid their normal salary while they work here.

The truly exceptional situation here is that their salary happens to be so low it's below the minimum salary (edit for clarification: exceptional in that it also happens with employees whose salary is above the minimum, but then article would seem a lot less sensational).

<comment><USER10> > The truly exceptional situation here is that their salary happens to be so > low it's below the minimum salary.

Not in India it's not. In 120 hours at $1.21 per hour, these workers earned almost 9,000 rupees. While $1.21 doesn't sound like a lot here in the US, in India about 100 rupees will buy you a nice meal out. 400-600 rupees will buy you a hotel room for the night, etc. The dollar has a lot more buying power than the rupee.

This is just to say, for a contract worker hired in India, these wages are "acceptable". I think it's likely the company didn't understand US law dictates that while the India workers are in the US, they must abide by US minimum wage laws (which would make for a substantial salary increase for these workers).

I think it's more likely they didn't understand the law fully rather than malicious intent. The workers were after-all, temporary and were not going to be staying in the US permanently. This would coincide with the symbolic fine of $3,500 plus wages-due.

<comment><USER11> > I think it's more likely they didn't understand the law fully rather than > malicious intent. The workers were after-all, temporary and were not going > to be staying in the US permanently.

Oh yeah, we agree there, what I meant is that of all the times companies brought over employees here to work for some time, this time it so happened that their salary was below the minimum. If they were bringing over people from, say, Canada or Germany, they'd probably be paid way above the minimum.

<comment><USER10> While that may be true, both Canadian Dollars and German (Well, EU) Euros both have a lot more buying power than the Rupee, and are more in-line with the Dollar. 1 Euro as of today is $1.26 USD. So someone getting paid 25 Euros an hour in Germany will get $31.50 USD per hour here.

In India, some googling of job postings has led me to believe the average software engineer makes about 500,000 Rupees a year. That's only $8,173 USD a year. (A nice 2 bedroom apartment is about $80-$90 USD a month in India)

Economies are totally different, which is why there appears to be a large gap in compensation.

<comment><USER12> A livable 2bhk will cost you around $280 dollars. However if you want to buy it will cost you north $100,000.

<comment><USER10> Your price seem to be more in-line with a 3 bedroom apartment (although admittedly I was a little soft in my numbers)

[http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of- living/country_result.jsp?coun...](http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of- living/country_result.jsp?country=India)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> One of the most positive political changes we could hope to see in the 21st century would be more free movement of people across borders. Not just for tourism. For work.

We're all better off if people can legitimately move to where their labor productivity is higher. The numbers are fairly clear on this. I've seen estimates that you could double global GDP just by letting people migrate to where there's more productive capital available.

Climate change makes this even more important. Mass migration is almost certainly going to happen -- we can let it happen in an orderly way, or we can let it be chaotic.

<comment><USER14> Unfortunately, Racism and protectionism will make sure this will never happen.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> In 2008, Massachusetts passed a law that mandates triple damages on employers who lose wage and hour lawsuits. The additional money is awarded to the employees.

I highly recommend this approach: compliance in Massachusetts is extremely high.

<comment><USER16> Seriously, if the only punishment is covering back pay when you get caught, where is the incentive to not pull these shenanigans?

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Over what period does this law apply? If you are a multinational and you bring workers over for a two-week training course, do you have to give them a raise for those two weeks?

<comment><USER18> I suspect you do, legally, if you're otherwise paying them less than minimum wage, and they are your employees. Although i'm no lawyer.

It is probably unusual for companies to bring people getting paid less than U.S. minimum wage to the U.S. for a two-week training course. Why would you spend so much money (travel? hotel? they're staying in your basement?) on workers you're paying less than minimum wage?

<comment><USER19> This was sort of regular at a past job of mine. We have offices in India, China, Japan, and different parts of Europe.

We frequently sent people to India and China to give training, especially when building out a new office or department. Occasionally, we would fly someone here (the US). Not so much for training but more to meet the the team.

With the caveat that I am not a lawyer or accountant, I would expect (but since when are laws reasonable) that if the person flown to the US doing so for a short time period and moving to the US, their pay would not need to change. But I could be very very wrong.

<comment><USER20> If you have some of your workers from a much poorer country brought over on business, then you should definitely give them higher pay for the trip even if the law says you do not have to, otherwise the business trip is effectively a punishment that leaves them out of pocket should they wish to do something normal like go out to a restaurant.

<comment><USER13> Any business that's paying to fly an employee half way around the world is also paying for their meals and personal expenses while they're there.

<comment><USER18> And if you're flying someone half way around the world and paying for lodging and personal expenses while they are there -- it seems you paying them at least $9/hour (the CA minimum wage) while they are there would not be a significant additional expense. That's what I'm wondering about this story.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> There are gazillion scam companies like this in the bay area. So many indians are exploited thanks for the H4 situation.

<comment><USER22> Can you explain that further? A quick search suggests that H4 holders are not legally entitled to work in the US.

<comment><USER21> That is exactly the problem. We have so many H4 holders (spouses of H1 holders) in the bay area. These H4 spouses are desperate for something to do (literally every other H1 household) and there are MANY companies that promise the H4 holder to get a H1 the next year and make them work for free even .

<comment><USER23> Isn't that illegal?. The H4 can't work (even part-time) until they have a H1 in hand.

<comment><USER21> Yes, it is illegal but also common. (The article also talks about something illegal but that doesn't stop it from happening and is quite common).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> There's something that's almost religious or magical about the way people understand national borders. Pay the workers $1.21/hour while they're on one side of an imaginary line, it's fine. On the other side of the line, it's despicable.

Shouldn't the ethics be independent of the imaginary line? It's either wrong in both cases or right in both cases.

<comment><USER24> Your comment displays a fundamental misunderstanding of wages. Wages in the amount of _X_ support a lifestyle of _Y_ quality. This is why a job that pays $150k in SV will pay something like $80k in, say, rural Idaho (if you can find the equivalent job). Typically _Y_ stays constant for a job of a certain type, level, and country; _X_ varies based on location/cost of living. Obviously this is greatly simplified. [Edit: in case it wasn't clear, my point is that 'imaginary lines' don't have anything to do with compensation levels - cost of living does.]

I don't really know enough about EFI's situation to comment... if you have an entire branch of your company in India, and you bring some portion of your workers to the US for a week or two for some onsite work, do you pay them US wages or Indian wages? I truly don't know the answer to this.

Likewise, if your company sends you to India for a week, do they pay you in Rupees?

<comment><USER25> If an Indian visits US for a short term, he or she will typically paid their normal Indian salary plus a "per diem" in US + accommodation. A decent company will put you up in a reasonable hotel and pay $70/day in a city like Chicago, maybe $100/day in a city like New York. The per diem money is neither taxable in US nor in India - if someone is "working" in US, they need to paid US wages and also pay taxes in US.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> How can we damage this company?

</comment><comment><USER27> Holy hell - I thought this was the same company I applied to a while ago for a position because the location is the same. It turns out it's not and I am glad. $1.21 is just inhumane.

</comment><comment><USER28> Anti immigration reform nativists from the south are no doubt going to use this to tar all the SV tech companies and H1Bs even if these poor schmucks weren't here on an H1.

<comment><USER29> I dunno, there tends to be more than a fair share of anti-immigration nativists _here_ who have some pretty loud megaphones.

Apparently I came here and stole a job that could've gone to a hard-working American, after all. And the local media doesn't want to let me forget it

<comment><USER30> Well, they kind of have a point when the same company that lays off 18,000 people requests a doubling of the H1-B quota. (see: Microsoft)

<comment><USER31> ...most of whom are from the Nokia acquisition, a.k.a. not US employees.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Assuming their life expenses were paid (hard to imagine they weren't - <USER2> would they survive?), what's wrong with that? It's illegal, but that's it.

</comment><comment><USER33> $1.21/hr * 120 hrs * 52 weeks * 60₹/$ = ₹452000/year. That's probably on the lower end, at least for software engineers, even in India

<comment><USER34> 452000 is a pretty decent salary for a fresher/upto-4-years experienced guys in India. That is what most companies will pay you.

Of course if you are from an IIT or other big brand name college, you can milk your alumni network to get 4 times that in internet companies and funded start ups. Those are generally exceptions and not the norm.

Most importantly the very opportunity to travel to US and work there would be so important to many people here, that they would agree to work in almost any conditions.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Article is missing many details. 8 workers with $40,000 in owed wages, thats about 1 months work. Now get some accountancy tricks and you get MANY possible scenarios. That 120 hour/weeks could be overtime they accumulated in India.

Nobody here ever worked for $1/hour? Many people would love to do this, just to be in California for free for a few weeks (all expenses paid).

Anyway, I just feel I should pass different opinion.

<comment><USER36> I assume you're being sarcastic?

<comment><USER35> Should I be? Go to India for a few months, and ask again :-)

<comment><USER36> I think you should be. Whether or not people in India want to work for $1/hr doesn't matter. A big reason the minimum wage exists to prevent the lowest wage occupations in the united states from falling into a prisoner's dilemma- style trap where the equilibrium is at or just below the amount needed to not starve. That said, I am sympathetic to the plight of those in developing countries.

<comment><USER35> I worked as salary accountant, I think big part of story is missing, and it is essentially click-bait.

> dilemma-style trap where the equilibrium is at or just below the amount > needed to not starve

That ship had sailed long time ago. In California I would be more worried about housing cost and expenses in general. I bet many people would gladly accept $1/hour position which would cover insurance, rent (in real house), food, car.... Steve Jobs worked for $1/year!

Ireland has strongly enforced minimal wage with long tradition, yet it surprisingly just does not work, even government is now forcing people to take unpaid positions.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> Doesn't surprise me that this was in Fremont, California at all.

<comment><USER38> _Doesn 't surprise me that this was in Fremont, California at all._

Out of curiosity, why? (I don't know much about Fremont, other than staying there occasionally when I can't find a closer hotel to my Silicon Valley customers.)

<comment><USER24> [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solyndra)</comment></comment></comment>


Having Alzheimer's at 38 (2015) - <AUTHOR> http://site.macleans.ca/longform/alzheimers/ <comment><USER4> My wife's family has a different disease running through it, though one with very similar outcomes. Huntington's.

It's genetic and dominant (so a parent having it means 50/50 for the children). Average age of onset is 38. Symptoms are a mixture of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's (both dementia and motor control issues).

Her uncle was diagnosed at 38, her mother at 50. I wasn't around for the first one, but have been there for most of the latter case (her mother is now 60).

Watching someone you love deteriorate before your eyes and become a different person week by week is one of the most harrowing experiences one can go through.

"You pick up the phone, you talk to your mom, you don't have to say anything. It's a mom". My wife had to go through discovering motherhood without that and she still can't adjust to the fact that her mother is not the same person anymore, it's a constant heartbreak.

I'm just glad there's a simple test for this and that both my wife and her one brother tested negative. So I'll never have to go through what Robin did but that possibly was something I had to contemplate for a while and just the thought of it (and those 2 months waiting for the test results) almost broke me

<comment><USER5> Yeah the only end of it is gonna be when people with such diseases stop having children, but just pointing out such an obvious solution generates all kinds of scorn from the people you are talking to, they seem to immediately think of "eugenics" and every other bad word and imagine you running a concentration camp... and not just people voluntarily using birth control to avoid the suffering of their own offspring that's all that I frequently suggest.

<comment><USER6> I think the issue you are probably running into is a lot more nuanced then you are portraying it to be. Whether you are religious or scientific or some mix of both, creating offspring is a pretty fundamental instinct that is very deeply ingrained into humans. Logic might say "If you have a genetic abnormality you should stop procreating for the greater good of society/your potential offspring/yourself". But we aren't wired to think that way. We think of procreating. The percentage of people who want absolutely zero offspring at any point in their entire life is really tiny. People want children and will put themselves into great levels of harm to have them. You can't really fight that. Children make us happy.

The reason people tend to think of eugenics and concentration camps and such is because they don't know where your slippery slope leads to. If someone with huntington's disease should not have children for the greater good, what about people with a family history of cancer, or a family history of heart disease. We find people with a tendency towards weight gain less desirable, should those people also not have children? What about people with baldness? It seems absurd but maybe they also aren't all that desirable. Where is the line where we say "You are desirable enough to have children"? And if we draw a line, do we need to enforce it? I mean people with huntington's disease certainly cost society a lot without bringing as much benefit. Should we force people like that not to have kids? Where do we lay that line in the sand and say "this is for the greater good!"

To me, I entirely understand why people give you scorn for your opinion. It is a slippery slope and it goes against a fundamental human instinct that brings joy and happiness regardless of the overall cost, pain, and suffering.

<comment><USER5> Being wired to think that way doesn't make it right under any light whatsoever; and I never say anything about enforcing anything; that's where the slippery slope starts by you and everyone else who thinks the same, where people pretend you are talking about enforcing, but you are just bringing the _option_ of not having children as a valid way to end the suffering, because even talking about such option brings all the hatred when it should be seen as a logical way to avoid suffering without stepping on the rights of anyone to reproduce.

<comment><USER7> Your approach might reduce the rates of these genetic illnesses, but it would not eradicate them, as most commmon genetic illnesses have a non-negligible rate of spontaneous occurrence.

<comment><USER8> Do we know if latent precursors combine, or is it really spontaneous/random?

<comment><USER7> Great question! I would wager that both occur.

Each disease will have slightly different genetics, but Huntington's disease provides a good example. There, we know that some individuals have a predisposition to developing the disease - this bias results from having over a certain threshold of repeating DNA bases in the _Huntingtin_ gene.

Here's an accessible discussion of Huntington's and similar diseases: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3175376/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3175376/) .

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> My Mother started experiencing dementia at 57 and it has been difficult to see such a brilliant, adventurous worldly woman change. She is still the person whom she was but now she is a creature of habit and does the same thing and the same time everyday of the week. Leaving her neighborhood and visiting new places including restaurants and parks makes her uncomfortable. She used to love traveling to places like Kenya, Portugal and Indonesia but now she just wants to stay local. She was quite a sculptor too but gave that up to raise five children and now that all of us are out of the house she doesn't have the capacity to peruse her old passion any longer. Moreover our conversations have progressively become shorter and shorter over the years and lost a lot of depth. As her son it's very difficult to deal with. Moreover I'm in constant fear I will be afflicted too as my grandmother had Alzheimer's as well. Maybe AI or some other tool will be utilized to develop medications and treatments to halt and reverse the disease in the future, fingers crossed.

</comment><comment><USER10> Research is making really big step, we all hope for a cure of this and other plague that are ruining our lives.

I often ask myself if the nature of the disease itself make it even worse: AIDS was the worst in its age, people went in streets asking for a cure, now we made huge steps, the same it's happening with cancer, but Alz make everything different: the sick can't make his voice heard, he has no knowledge of what's happening, family, with an enormous economic sacrifice, try to take care of the sick, and their voices become silent.

I'm seeing this for the second time in my family and I can say that I can fully understand who rely in special clinics - Switzerland is famous for this - to stop their life once the disease make them not self-sufficient. A nice view of this situation is given by "Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die".

<comment><USER11> Very little is spent on Alzheimer's research compared to other diseases:

[https://www.aarp.org/health/brain- health/info-2015/alzheimer...](https://www.aarp.org/health/brain- health/info-2015/alzheimers-research.html)

I suppose if we made more of an effort now, we'd make considerable progress in 10-20 years.

<comment><USER12> Maybe a sign of positive change? I have noticed Alzheimers disease lately getting more attention from the US legislative body, via C-SPAN:

From March 23, 2018: [https://www.c-span.org/video/?442595-4/washington- journal-dr...](https://www.c-span.org/video/?442595-4/washington-journal-dr- keith-fargo-discusses-alzheimers-disease)

From June 19, 2018: [https://www.c-span.org/video/?447278-1/marcia-gay-harden- tes...](https://www.c-span.org/video/?447278-1/marcia-gay-harden-testifies- senate-hearing-alzheimers-disease)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Goddammit. I am going to cry.

This was a wonderful piece. Empathy in every detail, while still being open enough to satisfy a reader's curiosity. It read like a book and I accidentally began to feel a kinship with the characters.

<comment><USER14> Yup me too.

Both my grandfathers had Alzheimer's. I don't talk to my mother anymore (who is 68) so I don't know how she is doing, and my father (70) seems to be OK so far, but he's always been a bit 'scatty', so early signs would probably be hard to detect. I'm in my mid 40s but I've long had a lingering fear that Alzheimer's will get me at some point. I find it absolutely terrifying at the prospect of losing who I am. On and off I tinker with ways of capturing who I am in some way, or regularly think of ways I could invent support devices to assist me when my brain goes to mush. I am definitely preoccupied with this topic. I doubt though, that I'll ever come up with anything to help; I'm simply not clever enough. I am less intelligent today, than I was yesterday. The anti-depression drugs probably don't help in that regard either.

This is why I come to HN every day... The richness of the topics covered, and the knowledge that the comments section is a safe place to share...

Please pardon my self-reflection.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Dr Rhonda Patrick and Peter Attia are two very prominent researchers that I follow in longitivity and neural degeneration. they discuss APOE4 as being a strong indicator of Alzheimer's susceptibility. If you have It in your genome it's scary but also a lot of research goes into preventative means. For example anti inflammation diet is a strong factor because any diseases especially Alzheimer's is triggered by chronic inflammation. They swear by tumeric (curcumin) extract and probiotics. Also a lot of biomarkers are good for measuring as well as some activittieis like of course exercise but also saunas.

Alzheimer's is definitely terrifying but leaps and bounds have been made in prevention.

I'm working on a tool to help monitor and track some of these preventative measures: Meports.com

<comment><USER16> It's difficult to find any scientific paper's by these prominent researchers. Where would one find those?

As far as I know, there is no concrete evidence that proves any causal relationship between inflammation and neurodegenation.

<comment><USER17> Maybe no evidence of a causal relationship, but AD is characterized by neuroinflammation, as are many other neurodegenerative diseases.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> There is an excellent German ZDF documentary about Alzheimer/Dementia at young people: [https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/37-grad/37-das-grosse- verge...](https://www.zdf.de/dokumentation/37-grad/37-das-grosse- vergessen-100.html)

</comment><comment><USER19> Diseases which affect your brain are quite bizarre in terms of quantifying the effects. I have some lesion damage from multiple sclerosis, but there's very little information available on what effects, if any I'd be able to identify. It's quite a bizarre experience to have physical damage that manifests in such a way that the entire outcome is subjective (was not putting clothes in the dryer an effect of Alzheimers? maybe), though clearly in this case the results are later measurable as the disease progresses. Nerve damage lower in the spine is easier to make judgements about, but still not perfect (for me this manifests as sensation loss, which is only measurable by stabbing me with a needle and asking how it felt).

Though obviously unobtainable, I wish there was better ways of measuring cognitive damage than drawing overlapping pentagons, though I seem to be able to pass that one with my own evaluation despite lack of drawing skills.

<comment><USER20> The Brain has a fair amount of redundancy and adaptability, but you use that to deal wide a huge range of issues. So, up to a point you simply get worse side effects from aging, concussions, drug use etc. Making a list of symptoms hard to generalize.

<comment><USER19> Yep. For MS in particular you can get very specific damage that can't be mitigated by other parts of the brain, but in general the amount of malleability hides a lot of impact until later.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> This is the kind of stuff that keeps me up at night. I really hope we can make breakthroughs with these sorts of things soon.

<comment><USER22> Bonus: sleep deprivation is thought to cause brain damage.

<comment><USER23> If one of the functions of sleep is to remove toxins in the brain then this essentially follows.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> My grandfather is 79 and got his alzheimer's diagnosis this fall. He's lived a long, absolutely amazing life and inspired me to become an engineer. He's the kind of man that if he wants something done, he learns what to do and does it.

My grandfather lived his life, so I understand it's very different from the people who develop the disease in their 30s when they were supposed to raise children, start businesses, find their career niche and maybe their lifelong hobby. My grandfather did all that but I'm still very sad. He will forget everything he did, all the jobs he created with his successful businesses, all the laughs from me and my brother when he shared his blunders in life, all the math he learned and loved ... really everything he holds dear.

I remember reading the Wikipedia article about Claude Shannon and crying a few years ago. He also died of alzheimer's and in his last days, he'd forgotten the profound impact he made on the world. I just can't imagine a worse fate, your body shutting down and all your achievements and experiences fading from memory. It would be worse to experience it as a young man, but no matter when it strikes, it's a way to go that nobody deserves.

</comment><comment><USER25> This topic is touched upon briefly in the excellent game / walking simulator "Firewatch".

<comment><USER13> Thank you, the trailer looks fantastic.

<comment><USER12> I don't work for Steam or the creators of Firewatch, but here's the link: [https://store.steampowered.com/app/383870/Firewatch/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/383870/Firewatch/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> "He's still my family," she says. "If your family is in trouble, you take care of them. There isn't another choice. You don't just walk away." Robin has contemplated , made me cry. Family means we are there to support and not run away. Great piece and hope there is some breakthrough soon for this and no one face this anymore.

</comment><comment><USER27> My wife's friend lost both her mother and father to alzheimer's. She is absolutely terrified about it.

It's an awful disease. We should make it a top priority to put an end to it.

<comment><USER28> Common theme in Science is showing how gut bacteria etc... is affecting inflammation and alzheimers. If we "knew" that eating refined sugars/processed foods in our diets was contributing to our chance of getting alzheimers. How many people would actually stop eating refined sugar... probably not as many as we hope

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> Discussed at the time: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10179161](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10179161)

</comment><comment><USER30> I see someone is subscribed to Peter Attia's Newsletter.

On topic, this was seriously a very good read and I seem to have a strange obsession of reading about afflictions of the brain and how they manifest in different people.

</comment><comment><USER31> How very sad. I don't have the same genetic issue he does, though I do worry about this disease and it's frequency in my family tree. Frankly, I hope for a cure.

</comment><comment><USER32> This sounds insane to say, if you haven't lived with a parent or family member with dementia, but if that happens to me I really hope I have the nerve to kill myself.

<comment><USER33> I fervently believe its just a matter of time (hopefully the next 10 yrs) til we add "end-of-living power of attorney" to the list of documents that govern how we get old.

This legal document would lay out instructions to implement assisted suicide upon reaching a (difficult I know) threshold of mental/physical impairment.

With the exponentially increasing health care burden that aging baby boomers are inflicting on gov't purse strings it shouldn't receive much resistance.

<comment><USER34> This gets insanely complicated legally and ethically, because there has to be independent proof of loss of mental competence (which happens when...?) - <USER2> paradoxically, assisted suicide legislation to date assumes a person is competent to make the decision for themselves.

Clearly both can't be true. So _at best_ you end up in a brief window where someone can be assumed to be competent enough to understand their situation while also understanding that the competence may disappear in the near future - possibly by the time they've travelled to a clinic - and someone else will be making a life-ending decision on their behalf.

There also has to be no suspicion that anyone will benefit from accelerating the suicide option - which is not always as straightforward as it sounds, and would ideally have to be investigated explicitly on a case by case basis.

My mother had middle-stage Alzheimer's at 90, although - perhaps mercifully - cancer killed her before Alz could.

We had issues with power of attorney, because she was very clear she wanted to go home and live on her own, and it was absolutely obvious that she wasn't able to do so without endangering herself.

Aside from the emotional heartbreak of having to tell someone over and over every time you meet that they can't have something they really want - <USER3> she couldn't remember a conversation from minute to minute, never mind day to day or week to week - there were also a formal legal process involving two oversight bodies (local services, and the national Court of Protection) to make sure that keeping her in a home against her will was actually in her interests.

It would have been _far_ harder if she'd left a living will saying "Please make arrangements for assisted suicide when it gets to this stage" and then apparently changed her mind as the disease progressed to the point where there was no possibility at all of mental competence.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> I have tears. I fear this more than I realized before.

I think I just need to say a few things. So they exist somewhere, because of that fear, anger and sadness brought to me by this story.

I remember the day I woke up, and by that, I mean the difference between being that kid, experiencing, and who I am today.

It happened for me in 2nd grade. End of year, and I realized I could no longer choose to read, it just happened. And I was angry, and excited at the same time.

Was never the same.

That year was the beginning of me, and while I remember a lot from my very early years, those memories aren't like the ones I have later on.

I would fear going to sleep. Would I be the same again, or someone new, or would I forget those realizations I had at the end of that second school year?

The idea of "me" being a fragile state, a pattern that tends to endure, provoked a sense of guardianship. I am in charge of me, nobody else.

That caused me considerable grief growing up. Others, wanting to help, were dofficult to let in. How can I tell that, the human teasing out of who we are becoming, from manipulation rooted in self-serving, toxic ends, not mine, me?

Took years to resolve, and with it came a joy in knowing me, seeing me happen, grow. And others. People of all kinds. It is fun to meet them, see who they are.

That should explain the fear. I am very aware of me, that identity I felt congeal into a thing made aware, to grasp, and guard lest it fase, shift, be lost.

To have it just degrade, fade away despite ehat I know must be a painful struggle...

We need to do the work on this thing. It could be any of us, and ours facing this quiet horror.

Jo is a lucky person. He has someone who knows his story, who can take him back, connect.

<comment><USER36> Have you read "Buddhism, plain and simple"?

We share many ideas and have gone through a similar awakening. As most of the people commenting here, I wish we could all gather around a coffee table to discuss that book and others...

Please, if you haven't read it, consider doing so :)

<comment><USER35> I will. Have not. Thanks.

That gathering would be epic, very high value.

I was touched by this. Made me think of things I had set aside.

A little dismayed I got negative votes. Was just sharing. Maybe unwise, but like I said, Jo and what he is experiencing...

Yeah, a gathering to just chat, share, good, bad, would have high value.

<comment><USER14> I have also just put a (used) copy in my Amazon basket.

@ddingus - ignore the haters. I also shared elsewhere on this thread and fully expect to take a vote hit. Sharing shouldn't be about other people, it's about _you_. If there's anything this whole thread and linked article should tell us, it's that we are all individual people with our own histories and personalities, and each one of us is just as precious as every other.

<comment><USER35> Really, it's a signal. A simple query: am I alone in this? Have you experienced this?

And it is sent, not requiring a response. More like just that signal, Others May hear, get something from.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER37> Reading this will rightfully scare the bejeezus out of us. The question is, what can we do? Alzheimer is sometimes referred to as diabetes type 3. Cutting out sugar and eating a low carb diet is a good precaution. It likely wouldn't have helped Jo, but it might save quite a few of us from this scary outcome.

<comment><USER38> > Alzheimer is sometimes referred to as diabetes type 3.

Just because it is referred to that way doesn't mean that it is actually the case.

The hypothesis that AD=Diabetes has been around for at least ten years [1]. If it were true, I would have expected to see some results by now about how diabetes interventions can slow the advance of AD, if not prevent and/or reverse it entirely. AFAICT there have been no such results. That casts the hypothesis into serious doubt IMHO.

[1] [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/)

<comment><USER39> We're only now just waking up to the reality that type-2 diabetes can be reversed w/ carbohydrate restriction, even though the data to support that has been around for decades. I don't think a decade is an unusual latency for the medical institution to lay idle on.

<comment><USER40> >We're only now just waking up to the reality that type-2 diabetes can be reversed w/ carbohydrate restriction

I don't think this is a new/recent revelation at all (and in fairness, I cut the next part of your quote that acknowledges decades old research).

And while not all cases of type 2 can be reversed (most can) but maybe more importantly 100% of cases can be prevented through diet/exercise.

<comment><USER41> >100% of cases can be prevented through diet/exercise.

Is that accurate? Honest question. I know adult onset diabetes is strongly linked to obesity, but would have thought there are other potential causes as well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER42> There is a link between Alzheimer and fungal infections in the brain and a compromised blood/brain barrier.

</comment><comment><USER43> [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8492918.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8492918.stm)

Tldr:- Didn't find any specific gene linkage. Less stress, low cholesterol and the other standard healthy metrics seems to make a difference.

</comment><comment><USER44> The Pentagons really drove home what it is like to have this. It must be so hard...

</comment><comment><USER45> There's a lot of scientific evidence that medical marijuana can remove beta- amyloid build up in the brain. There is also evidence that unknown spirochete diseases can cause Alheimer like symptoms. There is also cause for concern that bio-pesticides that are GMO based are can infect the brain and cause symptoms like this as well. I would definitely never give up if this happened to me. Antibiotics, antiparasite, diet changes, small microdosages of CBD/THC based marijuana strains, neuroprotective compounds, etc --- all through a process of elimination with a journal. I hope Jo or somebody like Jo reads my comment and tries these things.

<comment><USER46> > There's a lot of scientific evidence

I would like to see this. Do you have a link to a peer reviewed study?

<comment><USER47> While I cannot commet on whether or not these are peer reviewed, this may provide some insight

[https://www.alzheimers.net/6-15-15-effects-of-medical- mariju...](https://www.alzheimers.net/6-15-15-effects-of-medical-marijuana-on- alzheimers/) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17140265](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17140265) [https://www.salk.edu/news-release/cannabinoids-remove- plaque...](https://www.salk.edu/news-release/cannabinoids-remove-plaque- forming-alzheimers-proteins-from-brain-cells/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER48> It's the food. Alzheimer looks like a form of arteriosclerosis of the brain.

In autopsies to Alzheimer patient brains we can see the small arteries of the brain clogged with fat and colestrol, here is a video showing this with pictures - [https://youtu.be/WhtpyVhlu28?list=PL5TLzNi5fYd8E6GHQcmIWYGE7...](https://youtu.be/WhtpyVhlu28?list=PL5TLzNi5fYd8E6GHQcmIWYGE7vDP97529&t=90)

If plaque building in main arteries can cause heart atacks, the exact same blood is getting to the brain - imagine what it will do there.

If anyone here has Alzheimer in the family and would like to preventively change their diet, have a look at this other video from that playlist - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-noCw4LsY4&list=PL5TLzNi5fY...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-noCw4LsY4&list=PL5TLzNi5fYd8E6GHQcmIWYGE7vDP97529&index=11)

In summary, there are strong indications that a whole food plant based diet low in fat is the best-known way to prevent Alzheimer's and even alleviate the symptoms.

Hope for Alzheimer Patients: [https://nutritionfacts.org/2017/12/26/hope-for- alzheimers-pa...](https://nutritionfacts.org/2017/12/26/hope-for-alzheimers- patients/)

It's important that the diet is not only plant based, but low in fat as for example there is a lot of Alzheimer's in India where a large part of the population is vegetarian.

This has been linked to ghee (clarified butter), as per this video:

Oxidized Cholesterol as a Cause of Alzheimers Disease - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y15yI5LLlNY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y15yI5LLlNY)

<comment><USER49> Your conspiracy theory approach to science backed by Youtube videos is obnoxious. The cause of Alzheimer's is still unknown, but most likely related to amyloid plaques. Diet may contribute. Or it may not. In a 38 year old, it's genetics. Period.

<comment><USER50> Period. So ignorant. At least give those videos a look. There is actual science behind it. Diet contributes big time.

<comment><USER51> > Period. So ignorant. At least give those videos a look. There is actual > science behind it

You may want to post peer-reviewed research papers backing those videos instead. It's a lot easier to review.

<comment><USER48> Here are the studies that those videos summarize, I would love to hear your opinion on the validity of the information:

[https://nutritionfacts.org/video/oxidized-cholesterol-as- a-c...](https://nutritionfacts.org/video/oxidized-cholesterol-as-a-cause-of- alzheimers-disease/)

You can see the sources by scrolling down and hitting the "Sources Cited" tab. Do you have reasons to believe that the information has been misinterpreted?

<comment><USER51> I don't have any opinion on the validity of that information, I'm just suspicious of "evidence" exclusively presented as YouTube videos. Thanks for the sources.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Make Your Welcome Emails Better - <AUTHOR> http://garethrees.co.uk/2011/09/01/thank-you-for-registering

<comment><AUTHOR> They're probably (almost definitely) both automated emails. The point is that they're a bit better than "Hi. Click this link. Buy some more stuff from us."

</comment><comment><USER2> It all sounds very nice, but unless you have professional tech support, this will not scale. Imagine your registrations grow 100X - you will drown yourself in email requests.

<comment><USER3> It doesn't matter -- you SHOULD be doing things at the beginning of your startup that does not scale.

The fact of the matter is that it is extremely unlikely that you will ever get 100X registrations -- it just does not happen. Most people "launch" a landing page or their MVP, and it's more of a squeak than a bang.

You need to make your early customers evangelicals, and you do that by doing things for them that do not scale. Something cool like the Skills welcome email is very appropriate, and if executed sincerely, does a great job to convert casual surfers to potential users.</comment></comment>


'It Can't Be True.' Inside the Semiconductor Industry's Meltdown - <AUTHOR> https://cacm.acm.org/news/224168-it-cant-be-true-inside-the-semiconductor-industrys-meltdown/fulltext <comment><USER2> Security and performance are just two of many linked variables in the ongoing trade-offs made when designing software and hardware. The silver lining in this incident maybe that the ubiquity of the problem means security issues gain more mindshare in the public consciousness, and the pendulum swings towards security a little stronger.</comment>


Ask HN: Why is nature so brutal - <AUTHOR> A fairly decent team could have designed a more empathetic circle of life. Maybe lack of designers and outsourced/finished hurriedly? <comment><USER2> I would say that the word 'brutal' is heavy with preconceived notions.

The fact of the matter is that all creatures have to kill to eat. That's true whether what's being eaten is plants or animals.

Having said that, humans are perhaps the only animals on the planet that can recognize a higher purpose in that fact. Like nurturing and protecting what we love. Humans can feel and express gratitude for that fact that other entities sacrificed their lives so that we can live.

Perhaps you could re-frame the question to something like this: Why do people take it for granted that brutality is inevitable but compassion is optional?

<comment><USER3> > The fact of the matter is that all creatures have to kill to eat.

It wasn't always like that - predators appeared at some point of evolution about 500mln years ago (or at least first evidence of that is that old). Before that it was all happy coexistence, but ... this system can't last long.

> Like nurturing and protecting what we love. Humans can feel and express > gratitude for that fact that other entities sacrificed their lives so that > we can live.

This is not limited to humans (and most of them don't have much of it anyway). Every animal will protect their offspring and I am pretty sure every lion is grateful for the meal provided by its prey.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Being empathetic does not put food in my gut. It might get you a date and a plate, but does not provide a career.</comment>